It has been awhile, so excuse this question if it is a little silly. We have an account that is titled "The Blah Blah Family Trust" Dad is the Trustee and two daughters are contingent Co-trustees. Daughter 1 came into the branch and stated that Dad is not doing so well, that her Dad has given her POA and she wants to transact on the account with the POA.

I say "no way" ...but could use a few extra opinions.

We don't need to use a POA when dealing with a trust--we should go back to the trust documents. The trust should provide instructions for a change of trusteees. It may state that a trustee can resign by giving written notice to a successor trustee. Look to the trust to determine the successor trustee(s) if the current trustee can no longer serve in that capacity. Generally, a fiduciary cannot delegate their fiduciary powers via a POA.

That was my understanding. Thank you for confirming.

You wanted extra opinions: I agree with Brenda.

What most consumers and a measurable percentage of attorneys fail to understand is that writing a trust is like creating their own law. This is not about your bank's policies. If they provide for POA's, authorized signers, borrowing power, etc. all those things are possible. If they do not provide for them, they do not exist. If the documentary scheme is well crafted, the trust references the POA and the POA references the trust.

Even though the trust may provide for successor trustees upon the resignation of the first trustee (in this case Dad), the original trustee may be reluctant to resign. It sounded like a fine idea in the attorney's office four years ago, but now that the time has come it doesn't - it is an irrefutable acknowledgement of a deteriorating physical or mental condition. Some people simply cannot do it. Nevertheless, they are where they put themselves, they need to follow the law that they wrote.

Not only do trust create their own set of rules, they create a new "entity." If that entity is not created with the ability to delegate powers to an agent/attorney-in-fact, there can be no such power of attorney used by the trustee.

And, because the trust has its own identity, any POA that Daddy may have granted as an individual does not affect his status as trustee and creates no ability of Daddy's attorney to act for him in his Trustee capacity.

"Wishing don't make it so!"